Catalinbread Semaphore Tremolo

Call me crazy, but I think it's exceptionally easy to get a good sound out of this pedal. How strong of a pulse do you want to hear? (depth); How loud? (volume); How fast/slow do you want the pulse to be? (rate); and What shape do you want the signal to take? (shape). Just like any other effect, listen to it and tweak it accordingly. I could literally find a place for everything this pedal does.

2004 Les Paul Standard with BurstBuckers, 1995 Nashville Telecaster Deluxe with an SD Vintage Stack in the bridge and DuckBuckers in the middle and neck positions, and a 2006 MIM Strat with Lollar Blondes. Super Reverb Reissue with Jensen Mod 10-50's and a lightly modded Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue with a Jensen C12K. Not noisy at all...but it will definitely do LOUD. The volume knob really goes to 11. I find a way to incorporate the Semaphore into alot of songs just to have an excuse to turn it on.

I feel confident that I can depend on the Semaphore. I try to have a backup for most of my effects. Nothing is perfect.

Excellent customer service and support. Nic, Mike, Stefanie, etc. at Catalinbread all do a wonderful job of taking care of their customers in spite of being an extremely small company. They've gone above and beyond for me on several occasions. I own 5 Catalinbread pedals, so I'm very much pleased with their customer support.

I play just about every genre of music with the exception of metal. The Semaphore definitely works for me. I would immediately replace the Semaphore with a new Semaphore should something happen to it. My dilemma at the time of original purchase was between the Semaphore and the Pentavocal Tremolo from Red Witch. The Pentavocal Trem also sounds incredible. The Semaphore sounds just as good to my ears, but it has a much smaller price tag. Problem solved. My favorite feature of the Semaphore is the tweakability...you can really get an endless number of sounds from this thing. Awesome.

super easy to use but the knobs are a bit tight together

Sounded great until it broke in the middle of a gig..

Can you depend on it? NO!

I had it for 7 hours and then it broke in the middle of a gig
the switch was directly attached to the circuitboard and stomping on it broke the circuitboard inside in half and cut the signal from the guitar to the amp rather than just dying..

Sent it to Catalinbread for RMA/repairs, they told me they had never
received the pedal although it said on the tracking page that it had been signed for by them

They refused to give me a refund or replace the pedal.

if it had worked as it did in the first few hours it woulda been awesome
but it broke down almost instantly and after sending it for repairs to catalinbread they never returned it or my money..

seems like they pay people to go around on forums and give "user testimonials".. theres a reason they dont have any major distributors

stay away

I'm giving the unit a ten in this catagory for a very subjective reason. I have a very specific tremolo sound that I use. I put the Semaphore on the board and was able to dial in that sound in less than a minute. I know it does a lot of other stuff which is one reason I bought it, and I experimented with it a little bit. But the sound I needed I got right away with no complications. The tremolo sound I use is very simple: Robbie Kreiger - Riders On The Storm. Not for that song, but based on that sound for several other things I do. I found it almost immediately.

The most impressive thing to me about this unit is that it is very "present". That means it's also very pristine and clean, otherwise it wouldn't have so much presence. I had been using a Boss TR-2 which is a fine pedal, but there's no comparison between it and the Semaphore. The Semaphore trem has a certain sweetness to it's overall sound. I apologize for the abstraction, but that's the only way I can describe it. The level control makes it very easy to reach unity-gain, or a little more to compensate for the psycological effect of the pulsing.

I've only used it a couple times so far. It looks very well built. I am not an electronics expert and I have not looked inside, though, so I won't offer an opinion here.

Nick answered all my questions promptly. I ordered it and it took a week and a half to reach me, but I have a feeling that's because they built it.

Considering that this unit only costs one good dinner for four more than a Boss pedal, it's worth every penny. Unbelievably versatile.

Main pedalboard: Telenordia TA-100 overdrive, Road Rage 8-channel looper, Boss BD-2, CMATMODS Brownie, DOD FX-65 chorus, Retro-Sonic Phaser, Semaphore, Retro-Sonic Analog Delay. '06 Clapton Strat/'95 American Standard Strat/'88 12-string Strat, through Fender Hot Rod Deluxe w/ ext. cabinet.

As I said earlier, I use a specific trem sound for some swampy kind of stuff, which this does very well. But it's also nice to know that if I need someday to play the intro to Blvd Of Broken Dreams, it'll do that, too.

I think it's a great unit and recommend it to anybody.

The Semaphore has way more features than your standard tremolo. This lets you do more with it, but on the other hand makes it a little trickier to gasp.
The good news is - if you choose to ignore the more complex settings like asymmetrical wave shapes and resort to using just your basic Rate and Depth - you'll still get a great tremolo effect.
It takes a while to familiarize yourself with all the extras, but it's wel worth the effort.

I use the Semaphore in the front part of a longish chain of pedals, my current guitar is a Gibson faded les paul special, into a Marshall JCM 900 half-stack.
The pedal sounds very transpaernt, and all the shapes are convincing - no matter what shape setting you're using.
I also love the way they solved the volume drop problem - the separate volume knob lets you effectively adjust the level and even leaves you the option to use the Semaphore as a clean boost - provided that both Rate and Depth controls are set to 0.

The white paint does seem to be thin, but so far - no chips of nicks. Then again - I'm never too hard on my pedals.
The switches and jacks seem very durable - the input jack on mine is even too tight to my liking. Also, I had to put some tape over the light - it's just TOO BRIGHT!

No idea

The Semaphore is quite frankly the best tremolo I have used. The drawbacks are most certainly the price and the overall tightness of the design - then again, the latter making it a huge space saver, I wouldn't go for a larger version.
For me it has been the ultimate tremolo - since I can get all the sounds I can think of straight from a single unit. As for getting a replacment - I guess I'd better make sure it does not get stolen or lost.

Easy in some ways, not in others. The small footprint means lots of knobs and things in a tight space. I had to magic mark base settings (luckily the pedal is light-colored). Lots of options period, so the less used you are to complex pedals (like me) the longer it will take to figure out. Which is still not very long. The easy part is that all these adjustments really do something. It's a remarkably versatile little device. The bright blue light is sweet. You know exactly what's happening with this thing on a loud stage. Love that light.

This is my third CB pedal, so you might guess I appreciate what Nick is up to. The Semaphore has an exceptionally pleasing sound IMO, especially when you get to crank things a bit. I use it with two clean boosts, delay and reverb, usually into a tweed pro type amp (Sewell Wampus Cat). The volume knob on this thing is the key. By itself, with intensity down, you can use it as a very effective clean boost. I often use it that way after another clean boost, to add just a touch more signal. As a trem, it has an openness, a depth to the sound that I find hard to describe. I'm no expert on this stuff, but there seems to be a lot of headroom here. It can thicken and deepen the sound, so there's a fair amount of on-the-edge of feedback pulsing away, but at the same time, great clarity and warmth. Does not mud up or distort the sound. Whatever the reason, it's quite beautiful. One of my tests for trem is on Link Wray stuff. I'm not looking for his sound ... looking for a LARGE, pulsing version of my own sound. That what the Semaphore gives me.

I depend on it, have never had a problem. No backup at gigs. Jacks are tight, solid. Switch is solid too. Very well built.

Bought is used, so no experience here.

Been playing way too long. Pedals are a pretty recent thing with me. Still feeling my way. Usually running a tele, strat and 335 into tweed type amps. Gain and drive mostly from the amp. Playing lots of swampy stuff, open tunings, slide, greasy old stuff. Magnatone vibrato has long been my favorite effect, but the Semaphore makes a strong case for itself every time I use it. Many other good trems: my buddy's SupaTrem is quite good, and I have a Moollon that is good in its own way. But the Semaphore is number one for me. It comes down to the tone. CB stuff is often described as "musical." Hard to say what that means exactly, but I hear it to be true with the Semaphore.

This thing is soo totally versatile that when you first use it, it may take you a bit to set up the exact sound you want. it comes with some recommended settings so you can use those as a good starting place and then tailor it to your tastes. the knobs are pretty self explanatory though so it's not like you'll be wondering what they do.

i'm using this with a solidbody with humbuckers to a vox amp...i've got a whole mess of pedals and i've noticed that on the really high volumes it generates a bit of noise but it's not much and it's not likely you'll be using it that loud. the pedal sounds great though. it doesn't color your sound but provides the most beautiful tremolo i've ever heard.

yeah this thing is built really tough. it's about the size of a standard mxr pedal but i'm not scared of stomping on it.

before getting the pedal i emailed nick and he was kind enough to reply and answer my questions

i play indie rock and i've been playing guitar for over 7 years and i'd definitely say this is worth the cost. i'd get another one in a heartbeat if it was lost or stolen. i compared this to a vintage dunlop ts-1 tremolo as well as some other modern boutique tremolos and the boss and voodoo labs tremolos....nothing impressed me as much as this little pedal...if you're a heavy stomper i'd recommend getting the american edition though because the smaller original is pretty easy to kick the knobs when stomping if you're not careful

Pretty simple. Controls for Rate, Depth, Volume and Wave Shape, plus there are two switches for Fast/Slow and Triangle/Square waves. The LED also flashes in time with the tempo. Mine is the larger "American Edition", which comes in a larger Hammond-style enclosure like a Voodoo Labs pedal. This big version means your foot won't hit the knobs when you step on the footswitch (which is obviously a bit of a problem on the standard-size model)

Best sounding Trem I've ever tried. I checked out a BOSS TR2, Line6 MM4 and a Fulltone SupaTrem. Predictably, the BOSS absolutely sucked, and its not true-bypass anyways. The Supa Trem was also very disappointing, which was a surprise given that I own several Fulltone pedals that I really like. The Semaphore is just so useful and musical and you can get SO MANY different tones out of it. My usual complaint with modulation effects is that their are either too subtle or too "over-the-top". But, the Semaphore's controls (specifically the rate and depth) have such a huge range that you can dial in any trem sound you want. I found that the "slow" settings were too slow to be useful, but anyone who's looking for ultra-slow trem settings won't be disappointed. The volume control is terrific, because you can set it so there's no volume drop when you turn it on. Some of the extreme settings (particularly the weird, modern "saw-tooth" sounds) can be a little noisy,though. This pedal gets a solid "10" in this category because it offers so many usable sounds.

A few small concerns here. First, the jacks aren't SwitchCraft, they appear to be just no-name brand. That's a little disappointing in a pedal that cost me $200. Second, the footswitch is soldered directly to the PC board. This is really lame. I guess it was necessary in the smaller model to save space, but there's plenty of room in the large enclosure. And while I'm complaining, there was no battery clip inside, and it came without any rubber feet! Not everyone uses velcro!

Haven't talked to customer service, but the builder has a very good reputation on the forums.

Overall, I'm really happy with it. It's small, it was reasonably priced and it sounds terrific. My few minor complaints about its construction quality shouldn't scare people away from it. Oddly enough, I wasn't seriously in the market for a tremolo anyways. But, after I tried it I was so impressed with the Semaphore, I just had to have it.

This pedal is amazing! Fot it's small footprint, there are plently of tonal options. It has the speed(rate) and intensity(depth) controls that all tremolos have, and shape and volume controls. Also
two switches. One for fast/slow modes and another to change from saw tooth to square wave signals. The blue LED pulses at the rate of
tremolo. DC power and jacks are on the top of this MXR sized enclosure. The circuit board is truely a thing of beauty, designed by someone who cared. It's concise and efficient. The manual is basic
enough,a single folded paper with seven samples of different wave shape that can be derived and an explanation of the internal switch and trimmer for internal gain. For someone use to two controls it may
be initially a challenge, but I'm giving a 10 here because it's possible to get so many great sounds from this pedal. A little adjusting and there are more tones than any standard tremolo.

If your favorite artists have songs with that rich sounding Fender type tremolo, (vibrato according to Fender) this pedal will oblige!
It can also boost and even add a little distortion if that's what you want. The effect can be powerful and dynamic or subtle depending upon settings. The tremolo can be smooth or choppy and at the flick of a switch abrupt and intermittant. I like the classic Fender sound
and and smooth that out a bit for a subtle almost Leslie type vibe.
It's very warm and organic sounding.

The pedal is solid and very well designed. The stomp switch is soldered securly to the small circuit board and all connections are beautifly soldered. This my tremolo between a compressor and a Klon.
I have Fender Blackface amps with "vibrato" but use this pedal for its
rich analog sound. An LED and photo electric cells, replace the
opto-roach in the Fender circuit and do a great job! So,this pedal is
onboard for home,jams and gigs.

I brought the pedal through ToneFactor.com and Brad is a pleasure
to deal with. I've not dealt directly with Catalinbread, but judging by the beautiful build quality and design of this pedal,I'm sure that
are efficient and reliable.

I play mostly blues and blues based rock. This pedal does a sterling job of giving me the sounds I need and helps me to sound better. I've
been playing since 1957,was in a high school group 63-65 and have been
in several bands over the years. This the most unique Trem unit out there. It does what the others do in spades and then gives many more options. I play through Black Face Fender amps,An Allen Accomplice
and a 40 watt Allen kit in a Tweed cabinet. The board has a Timmy,Barber Small Fry,Barber Tone Press,The Semaphore Tremolo, a Klon
and a Maxon AD80 Delay. This is the pedal I go to for Fender style trem and a subtle rotating speaker effect. This pedal is truely worth
the price since it does so much,so well in such a small package!

its very very easy to get a good sound out of this pedal, all of the settings are useable in some way.
it takes a while to get used to how the controls work and how they interact especially when changeing the switches. but after a couple of days it will be second nature.
the manual is ok. everything you need to know is there. and Nick is a good guy and easy to contact.
Do I know the firmware revision number? I dont even know what that means

This does all the classic sounds great. all the fender trem you could ever want.
it interacts with the teaser stallion very well and is a great tool for it if thats what you want it for. But id say it really shines as just a normal trem.
its never noisy even when its acting as just a boost (yes it does that too, set depth to 0 and volume to max)
the trem always sounds great on any setting, thought balancing the volume control can be a pain sometimes.
im running LPs and tele through a couple of fx into a marshall JTM45.

id happily gig this without a backup, its not a main point of my rig so i could live without it. but i have no worries about depending on this. built to last.

Nick is great. easy to contact, via emails of right here on harmony central forums. FX

its great for any style of music that a trem would be used for.
ive been playing about 6 yrs.
other gear includes (FX) subdecay liquid sunshine, teaser stallion, SCOD, magicboy vibe, tuners, verbs, wahs etc.

i love how versatile this pedal is and just how damn good it sounds. its also really small so i can have more pedals on my pedaltrain jnr :)
sometimes i wish it could be even more choppy when on slower settings (more off, less on time)
it doesnt help me make music, only i can do that. but it doesnt get in the way...
just go buy one.

EASY!!!! Sounds amazing and has more options than the others I tried. Manual explains waves- otherwise use your ears!!!

From smooth to choppy this thing kicks ass. Freaking helicopter blades to a soft undertone warble. Trim pot inside to tweak volume to taste. Im using it with an american strat, 59 fender tweed princeton, and a small assortment of pedals. My favorite so far is combined with my ad900 analog delay- FUN! I purchased it for the studio and it will fit right in. It could take reamping to a whole new level....

Just got it. Looks and feels solid but you never know. I will say Im not worried!

Not yet. Great web site though. Ive read good things but again, I personally have no idea.

I made this review because when I went looking for info on this pedal I couldn't find much. On the blogs it gets a lot of mentions but that was about it. This is my take/advice-
I almost bought it without hearing it but decided I wanted to be sure- I should have saved time and just bought it. If you want a tremolo with a ridiculous amount of options - not just rate/depth but wave variation, TINY footprint, and wondeful tone( I like it BEST with alone with just the amp, clean tone ) then this is a great option. I preferred it over the vodoo labs, fulltone, and a couple others- but mainly picked it based on its own merits. I know it will give me what I was looking for in a tremolo.
My only regret was not trying the demeter as well. Ive heard that one sounds wonderful!!! But again this one had way more options, so I can live with that regret.